In Tersection
by shadowgirlVG
Summary: Life is going well in the moving castle, now that no one in it is magically bound. But one day Howl awakes to find Sophie missing and he can't seem to find her. Has she been Spirited Away? Crossover.
1. In Ingary

**In Ingary**

Sophie woke up early that morning and in high spirits. It had been nearly a month since her curse had been lifted but she still found herself in high spirits whenever she woke up without a dozen joints cracking and popping into place. Humming a bit to herself, she walked to the hearth to see if Calcifer was awake. Upon approaching it became clear that he was, but that he wasn't about to join in Sophie's early morning cheer.

He grumbled as Sophie sat in front of him and gave her a fiery glare. "You know, I didn't try so hard to get my freedom just so I could start doing twice as much work."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's that flower shop of yours. You and Howl need fresh flowers for it every day and I'm the one who has to find a place where they're growing. It's not that hard in spring, but winter's coming up and now I have to walk this castle around for hours every day to find a decent batch. You two are working me to death."

Sophie smiled, "I'm sorry Calcifer, I hadn't thought of the strain we've been putting on you. You're right about winter; it's not very practical to expect to run a flower shop when there aren't any flowers to find. I think we can afford to close shop until spring though. I'll put up a sign today to let people know. We'll just sell whatever leftover flowers we have for a few days and that should be enough. Why don't you get some rest now?"

The fire demon sighed with relief. "Thank you Sophie, I'm exhausted. I was moving the castle all night." His flame quickly smoldered down as he went to sleep.

Sophie pulled a shawl around her as Calcifer's warmth left the room. She didn't know what she was going to do with herself if she wasn't going to be able to run the flower shop for several months. Maybe Howl would be able to start up another magic business, if nothing else it would be able to keep them all busy.

In the meantime, Sophie thought, there might still be some flowers she could bring in for that day. Sophie didn't have the heart to wake Calcifer up, but since she was plenty awake she didn't see the harm in going out to search for her.

Glad to have a plan of action, she hastily scrawled a note to tell the others where she was going and grabbed a new pair of seven-league boots from the closet. Soon she was zipping about the country-side.

After about an hour of zipping Sophie understood just how frustrated Calcifer must have been. It wasn't quite winter yet but a few early frosts had killed off almost all of the remaining flowers. Finally she decided to give up and go back home, she would just sell what was left from yesterday.

Sophie turned around and felt an anxiety come over her. Once again she hadn't thought things through and now she had no idea where she was. There wasn't anyone around her so she made the only choice she could: she picked a direction and took a step.

Sadly, it seemed that her bad luck as the eldest was still about for as she continued zipping from one place to another she only managed to get more lost. Soon it was almost noon and Sophie had to take a break. She hadn't eaten breakfast that morning and she was famished. Since there wasn't anything near-by to eat she decided that the next best thing for her would be to rest. She lay down in the tall grass and listened to the wind rustling around her. Sophie found it very soothing and despite her hunger she was soon fast asleep.

Still, her stomach couldn't stay dormant forever. Sophie woke up to fierce growling sounds coming from her belly. She groaned as she stood up, her back was very stiff from lying on the hard earth. She looked around and was shocked to see that the sun was beginning to set. It was true that the days were getting shorter as winter approached but she still must have been sleeping for quite a while.

Now Sophie was worried. By now Howl and the others must have been wondering what had happened to her for a while. Also, if Sophie wasn't able to get home soon she'd have to spend the night out here. Neither thought was very appealing and her panic levels started to rise.

Just then a welcome scent came to her. It smelled like someone was having a roast not too far from where she was. Sophie hastily took off her boots and headed in the direction of the smell. She didn't see anything until she crossed a small stream and then a town came into view. At first Sophie thought it was deserted as she entered it, but slowly people started to appear.

Sophie gasped, the people were appearing in a very literal sense. One moment there would be no one and then someone would gradually materialize. She hurried behind a near-by building and watched in amazement the town began to fill up. None of the creatures there seemed to be human but they all came in different forms so Sophie couldn't quite be sure what they were. Still, it seemed like it would be a good idea to not take chances with letting the creatures see her. Howl had told her about too many dangerous magical beings for Sophie to not be on her guard.

Being careful to stay in the shadows, she began to sneak back the way she had come. Sophie's stomach fought with her the whole way, it seemed silly to run away from people who had perfectly good food just because they looked a bit strange. Sophie was on the verge of changing her mind and heading back to the town when she got to the stream.

Her eyes widened, it seemed her decision had been made for her. Although she was sure she was in the right place the stream had disappeared, it had been replaced with a huge lake. Wherever Sophie was, it appeared that she was stuck there.

Sophie groaned, if she ever got back home she knew Howl would never let her hear the end of this.


	2. In Need

**In Need**

Chihiro stared into the tunnel. It had been almost a year since she had last seen it, but it still looked the same. Maybe it would continue to be the same if went through it again. Maybe she would be able to get back to the spirit world.

She missed that place; everything had been so amazing there. Chihiro sighed, she wished she could go back to visit everyone, to visit Haku. She looked down at her palm, in it was the hair tie Zeniba had given her, over the past year it had served as the only real proof that Chihiro's adventures in the spirit world had actually occurred. The little purple band was comforting; it would always cheer her up when she felt down.

However it didn't help her loneliness. Chihiro had been able to make friends in the new town, but they couldn't replace Haku, Lin, and the others. She looked up again; the wind seemed to be pulling her toward the tunnel. She took a tentative step forward; maybe she could go for a short visit.

Chihiro shook her head and hastily stepped back. Even if she could get back to the land of the spirits it wasn't a good idea to try. The last time she had had to work very hard and face many perils to get home, and even then she couldn't have done it without all the help her friends had given her. Who knew if she would be so lucky this time?

She sighed as she turned around and began to head home. She felt pathetic for chickening out of going through the tunnel again, but the fact was as much as she wanted to see Haku and the others again she didn't want to risk never seeing her family and friends in the human world again.

She was so lost in thought that at first she didn't notice that the wind had started to pick up. It happened gradually but soon it was spinning fiercely around her. Chihiro screamed and tried to break out of the mini-tornado but found she didn't have the strength. As the wind's circle tightened around her she had to shut her eyes. She didn't know what was happening but she hoped it would be over soon.

Then, as if at her command, the wind stopped. For a moment Chihiro was too scared to open her eyes. She knew she wasn't where she had been, the dirt road beneath her had been replaced with a smooth wooden floor. The wind must have been some sort of magic, had someone in the spirit world brought her there?

Finally she opened her eyes and took a look around her. She seemed to be in a small room and in the middle of a strange chalk circle. In front of her was an agitated-looking blonde man. Strangely, he seemed to be human, did that mean she wasn't in the spirit world after all? Just what was going on here?

The man was talking in the direction of the fireplace but Chihiro was too confused to pay attention to what he was saying. "Excuse me," she asked, "could you please tell me who you are? And why you've brought me here?"

The man's eyes widened as he looked at her. After a moment he slapped his forehead in frustration and mumbled something at her. Chihiro continued to stare at him, this man was very strange. Then he began to speak more clearly, in fact he was speaking very loudly and slowly, the trouble was Chihiro couldn't understand a word of it. She wasn't entirely sure what language he was speaking but it definitely wasn't Japanese.

All the same she listened very closely and started to recognize some of the words. It seemed the man was speaking English. Chihiro perked up a little bit; luckily for both of them she had started studying English in school about a month ago. Hopefully she would be able to remember enough from her classes to communicate.

She began to speak slowly and deliberately, trying to keep her sentences and thoughts as simple as possible. "My name is Chihiro. Who is… are you? Why am…I… here?"

The seemed relieved when he heard her speaking his language. He began to speak faster but Chihiro was able to figure out was that he liked howling for some reason. When it became clear that she still had no idea what he was saying the man sighed and broke his message down into a few simple sentences that Chihiro could understand.

"Help. I need help. Please help find Sophie."


	3. In Distress

**In Distress**

Howl slept late that day. He hadn't really intended to, but his dream had been going too well for him to want to wake up. He had been dreaming about Sophie, something that wasn't very unusual these days. In the dream he had been dazzling her with some of his best magical tricks and she had been in utter awe of them all. Of course, Dream-Sophie was still Sophie, so things started to go a bit downhill from there. Dream-Sophie had started chastising him for being a show-off, and had handed him a list of things to buy in the market. She had just been pushing him out the door when he decided it wasn't worth it to stay asleep any longer.

"I swear," Howl said to himself as he slugged toward the bathroom, "even in my dreams that woman doesn't have a romantic bone in her body."

The end of his dream had put him in a bad mood, so he took a particularly long bath. In fact it was after noon before he finally came downstairs to greet the household. Sadly, he didn't get the warm welcome he had been hoping for.

"It's about time you came down!" It seemed Calcifer hadn't had a very good morning either. "You've got a lot of nerve waking me up after I'd finally fallen asleep just so I could heat your bath, and even then you wouldn't let me sleep! I had to keep that stupid water heated up for two hours! I'm not bound to you anymore, you know. I'd better start getting some better treatment or I'll be leaving you to move your own castle!"

Howl ignored the fire demon and looked around for Sophie. She didn't seem to be in the room but the flower shop was supposed to be open now anyway. He was about to open the Market Chipping door when the knob switched colors and Michael came in from wherever it was Calcifer had taken them the previous night.

"Oh," said Michael, "I'm glad you're up, Howl. I can't find Sophie anywhere."

"Isn't she in the flower shop?"

Michael shook his head and handed the wizard a note. "I found this on the table this morning. Apparently Calcifer was too tired to find any flowers today and Sophie decided to look for some herself. But the shop was supposed to open hours ago and she's still not back. I looked outside, but I couldn't find any sign of her. I'm getting a bit worried."

Howl read the note. He was mildly concerned about her but not very. He had an instinct for these things, and he got the feeling that Sophie's absence was just another instance of her not thinking things through. Still, if she had been gone this long, it was probably because she was having trouble getting back. It would save them all a lot of trouble and worry if he performed a locating spell.

"Michael, get out some maps of our area and Ingary," Howl instructed. "This seems like a perfect opportunity to show you that Crystal Shadow spell I was telling you about."

The young apprentice got out the maps and Howl said a quick incantation over them. Then he hung a small crystal on a chain above one of them. For a moment nothing seemed to be happening, but then Michael saw that although the crystal remained motionless, its shadow had started to move across the map.

Howl smirked. "I've never really liked the name of this spell. It's informative about the wrong things. It tells the caster what happens when it is cast but not what it's meant to do. The Crystal Shadow spell often gets lumped in with other locator spells, but what it really does is trace the path the person being sought took that day. Right now you'll notice the shadow is staying roughly in one place; that's because the spell hasn't gotten to the point where Sophie left the house yet." Howl's grin widened when the shadow began to move more. "It looks like she's just gone outside; now we'll find out where she's gotten to."

Then, to Howl's dismay, the crystal's shadow started to go mad. It began shooting off in one direction and then another, never stopping for more than an instant in any one place. For a moment he thought that the spell must not have been cast properly, but then he realized what must really have been going on. He groaned audibly.

"Michael," he said, sounded rather irritated, "check the closet. Are the seven-league boots there?"

Michael quickly confirmed his master's suspicion, and Howl sighed dramatically.

"Well, there we go," said the wizard as though the matter pained him. "Sophie's gotten herself lost zipping around with those confounded boots again. The crystal's shadow traces people's routes at an exaggerated rate, but it will probably be hours before it'll catch up to wherever she gets the sense to hold still." He handed the crystal's chain to his apprentice. "Try not to move the chain too much, it'll damage the spell. I'm going to go out and get some breakfast."

And before Michael could protest, Howl was out the door. Only Michael's concern for Sophie kept him from dropping the spell and charging after the selfish wizard. For someone who had recently gotten his heart back, Howl certainly didn't act like it.

Howl came back two hours later, but the spell was still not finished. He was tempted to go back outside for a while, but poor Michael looked like his arm was about to fall off. Howl reluctantly took over for him. Finally, after another forty-five minutes, the shadow slowed down.

"It's about time," the wizard grumbled angrily. "What was Sophie thinking, zipping around the country for so long?"

Despite his annoyance, Howl was starting to worry. He knew Sophie had more of a handle on the seven-league boots than she had had before, and even if she had gotten lost, it wasn't like her to be out this long. Maybe something had happened to her.

Howl called Michael over and had him take the crystal again. "It looks like the spell's almost done. When it catches up to where Sophie is now the crystal will move to where its shadow is and point to her location. Call me when it does."

Howl slowly slugged up the stairs. His arm was incredibly stiff, and he thought he'd soak it in some hot water. He was just about to start relaxing when Michael shouted for him. Howl groaned; it seemed the Fates had determined that he wasn't to have a moment's peace that day.

He hastily went back downstairs and looked at the map. After a moment's inspection he frowned, something was wrong here.

"I don't know what happened, Howl," Michael said worriedly. "The shadow had come to a complete stop and it looked like the crystal was about to go to it, but then the shadow suddenly disappeared altogether. Did something go wrong with the spell?"

Now Howl was truly worried. He knew that he had cast the spell perfectly; something bad was afoot. Still, he had to be sure.

"Michael, what did you do with the crystal?"

"I… I'm not sure," he looked around on the table and floor. "I thought I just dropped it, but I don't see it anywhere."

"That's because you're looking in the wrong spot." The two men looked toward the fireplace. In their concentration they had forgotten all about Calcifer.

"Did you see where it went?" asked Howl. The fire demon simply pointed up with one of his small flaming arms.

There, floating near the ceiling, was the crystal. It was spinning around in rapid circle. Michael was startled enough to let out a small yelp, but Howl realized what must have happened. He was now extremely worried.


End file.
